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The Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole, representing a broad range of American voices and organizations—including the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)—sent a letter to President Donald Trump March 7 urging him to reinstate a ban on de minimis treatment for China. The letter also encouraged him to further end de minimis duty-free treatment for commercial shipments from all countries. The Washington, D.C.-based coalition is committed to closing a loophole in U.S. trade law that is harmful to businesses and workers.
“The de minimis rule allows goods worth $800 or less per person per day to enter the United States duty-free and virtually uninspected, bypassing traditional customs entry procedures and data requirements,” the letter states. “This program, originally intended for use by tourists bringing back souvenirs from abroad, today is exploited by conglomerates and mass retailers to ship counterfeit clothing and medicines, unsafe baby products and toys, knock-off auto parts, goods made with forced labor and other problematic items directly to consumers’ homes, undercutting domestic manufacturers and retailers and millions of Americans who make and sell goods here.”
De minimis shipments have grown significantly in the U.S., from 139 million packages in Fiscal Year 2015 to over 1 billion packages today. This is the result of e-commerce companies such as Shein and Temu exploiting this provision to avoid duties, and account for 30% of all de minimis shipments.
“To protect U.S. jobs, uphold the rule of law, end tariff evasion, and shut down fentanyl smuggling,” the coalition urged the President to use his existing executive authority to take the following actions:
- End commercial de minimis shipments from all countries so the flood of packages and illicit goods coming into the U.S. under de minimis does not simply shift from one location to another.
- Require all imported goods be accompanied by the necessary information for both tariff collection and effective inspection, ensuring that shipments can no longer evade customs reporting and inspections.
- Implement common sense customs enforcement standards to ensure compliance so that package volumes at ports of entry do not exceed CBP’s ability to properly screen imports and enforce the law.
- Make the end of de minimis permanent so that the de minimis trade loophole is ended once and for all.
Over 30 organizations that are part of the coalition signed the letter.
A PDF of the letter is available here.
The letter was signed by:
- Achieve Greatness
- Alliance for American Manufacturing
- AFL-CIO
- American Elastic
- American Fashion Network
- American Woolen
- Citizens Trade Campaign
- Coalition for a Prosperous America
- Darling Fibers
- Erik’s Bike Shop
- Families Against Fentanyl
- Facing Fentanyl
- Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina
- Kelsie’s Cause
- Lost Voices of Fentanyl
- National Association of Police Organizations
- National Bike Dealers Association
- National Crime Prevention Council
- National Council of Textile Organizations
- People for Bikes
- Public Citizen
- Remake
- Reshoring Initiative
- Rethink Trade
- Shatterproof
- Sherrill MFG
- Specialized Bikes
- United Against Fentanyl
- United States Footwear Manufacturers Association
- United Steelworkers
- Uyghur American Association
- Uyghur Human Rights Project
- Workers United
- Voices for Awareness
- Victims of Illicit Drugs